Will Power is a two-time IndyCar champion. Álex Palou could prove willing cures all ills. Are we sure we want Laguna Seca re-paved? A handful of other single-seater championships were claimed this weekend. It felt like everyone had a grid penalty in Monza. The stewards took their time clearing one stranded McLaren. It didn't rain in Fuji. It did rain in Kansas, and then history was made. Key contenders fell out when at the front in Greece. Championship contenders clashed in France. Supercars said goodbye to a track. One driver searching for an opportunity had the attention of the motorsports world. We will revisit IndyCar predictions next week. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
System Readjustment
Super License points have been a topic of interest over the last few weeks, most notably as Colton Herta was linked to a possible Formula One race seat with AlphaTauri for the 2023 season.
Red Bull has interest in the American driver, and Herta was possibly going to move to Red Bull in a strange three-way swap where Pierre Gasly would move to Alpine while Herta would be released from his McLaren F1 testing contract to move to AlphaTauri after Oscar Piastri left Alpine to join McLaren.
However, Super License points were the one thing preventing this deal from taking place. Herta only had 32 Super License points with his 2018 Indy Lights season not qualifying due to a lack of competitors in that series that year. Forty points is required to automatically qualify for a Super License.
In IndyCar, Herta has been seventh, third and fifth in the championship before the 2022 season. That earned him four, 20 and eight points in those respective seasons. Any finish of third or better in the championship this year would have qualified Herta, but he ended tenth in the championship, and fell well short of the 40-point threshold.
Red Bull did push to have Herta exempt from the 40-point minimum, and that is allowed in the FIA regulations. Any driver with at least 30 points is eligible to request special dispensation.
This Super License system was established to prevent inexperienced drivers from moving into Formula One with little time in a race car, and also to prevent substandard drivers making it for Formula One due to funding. Max Verstappen joined Formula One at 17 years old and with 47 car races to his name. Verstappen had spent one year in car racing in 2014 and was on the Formula One grid in 2015.
We have seen Verstappen develop into a fantastic talent, and he is the extreme example, but an example nonetheless of how open Formula One was before the Super License points system was established. In Herta's case, many are pointing that the system is keeping out talented drivers because of how points are distributed and how some series do not receive a truly representative points total to match the quality of that series.
IndyCar is one of two series where the champion gets 40 points. Formula Two is the other, but Formula Two awards 40 points to the top three drivers in the championship while IndyCar only awards 30 points and 20 points for the next two positions. Fourth awards 30 points in Formula Two and ten points in IndyCar. Fifth in Formula Two receives 20 points while fifth in IndyCar receives eight points.
The way the points have been distributed encourages drivers to compete in Formula Two and Formula Three, which pays 30 points to the champion. It encourages participation in the ladder series to Formula One, but it neglects the competition and quality of grids in other series from around the world. The FIA is maintaining the power balance in its favor, but motorsports is not as cut and dry as that.
Formula Two is a young man's series. It is meant to develop drivers and a driver is gone after four or five years tops. No one makes a career in Formula Two. The grid is always younger and relatively inexperienced. The races are also shorter, ranging from 120 kilometers for sprint races to 170 kilometers for feature races. IndyCar is full of veterans, some with over 15-20 years or more of experience, and the races are longer. The shortest IndyCar race this year was 264.68 kilometers (164.5 miles at Belle Isle). The longest race as the Indianapolis 500, 500 miles or just over 800 kilometers.
Consistent success in Formula Two can get a driver to Formula One, but the same level of consistent success in IndyCar will not earn the same possible opportunity. A driver can be fifth in back-to-back Formula Two seasons and qualify for a Super License. In IndyCar, consecutive fifth-place championship finishes doesn't even earn a driver half the necessary Super License points.
IndyCar isn't the only series. There are plenty quality drivers in sports car racing that are not properly recognized, and the Super Formula series has been a development ground for Formula One prospects in recent years. The truth is there are more drivers qualified for Formula One than the points award.
No one is saying these drivers will be world champions or light the world on fire in Formula One, but someone like Herta who has been in the top ten of the IndyCar championship in all four of his full seasons is good enough to at least be on the grid.
That is the issue with the current system. It isn't properly taking into consideration experience in other series. Success is important, but it dismisses what it takes to be good in some of these series.
Entering the 2022 season, Will Power did not have enough points to qualify for a Super License. Power started 2022 with 36 Super License points. Power had already won an IndyCar championship and he had finished in the top five of the IndyCar championship in 11 consecutive seasons before he was ninth in 2021. Power had done more enough to show he was good enough for Formula One, but the system said otherwise.
Simon Pagenaud is another past IndyCar championship that would not have qualified at the start of the year. Pagenaud only had 39 Super License points, but in the last ten seasons he has won a championship, been runner-up twice, had six total top five championship finishes and was in the top ten in nine of those years with an 11th in 2015 being the one blemish on the Frenchman's decade in IndyCar. After finishing 15th in the IndyCar championship, Pagenaud would fall further away from Super License qualification.
The system in its current form looks at short-term success. Those 40 points must be scored in a three-year period. With the pandemic, it has been adjusted for a driver's best three seasons in the last four years, but that still ignores a significant portion of some drivers' careers. It is a flaw in the system and it can be corrected.
What can be done?
First, more points can be awarded. That might sound like it allows too many drivers in, but there are more than the top three in Formula Two and the IndyCar champions that should automatically qualify for a Super License.
Second, the system needs to be adjusted just to take into consideration the regional variance in the championships. At the present moment, the Formula Regional Americas Championship pays 18 points to its champion. The Indy Lights champion only gets 15 points, but the Indy Lights car was nearly ten-seconds faster at Road America and about eight-seconds faster at Mid-Ohio. Formula Regional Americas and Indy Pro 2000 run nearly identical lap times, but Indy Pro 2000 only gets ten points for its championship. The FIA might decide what is worth more on paper, but that neglects the actual ability of the race cars and where drivers compete. Indy Lights is far from perfect, but the competition is stronger there than Formula Regional Americas.
There is also a problem with GT3 series. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters pays 15 points to its champion, but this system was designed when DTM was a touring car series and had its own bespoke race car. Now DTM is a GT3 series. Other international GT3 series only pay six points to a champion. We are also looking at a time where IMSA's top series only runs GT3 cars and GTD-Pro gets ten points for its champion and the World Endurance Championship's GT category will soon be GT3-based.
The capabilities of the car and the depth of the field need to be taken into consideration, but at the present moment DTM and IMSA GTD-Pro receive more points because of their legacies and not for what they are at the present moment.
There are many series to take into consideration, but the Super License points system should be more uniform. There should be tiers for series with the top tier awarding more Super License points and getting more drivers automatically qualified with it decreasing down the tiers. The top tiers should also give more weight to long-term success versus a three-year period.
It might sound crazy, but the Super License points should be a seven-tier system awarding drivers across the many champions. Consider this:
Tier 1: (Formula Two, IndyCar, FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar, IMSA GTP)
Formula Two and IndyCar already get 40 points for its champions, but the top drivers in prototype sports car racing are more than qualified for Formula One and do not receive proper recognition.
The Toyota Hypercar program has Formula One veterans Sébastien Bourdais, Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi. Mike Conway has won in IndyCar and had good results in GP2. Ryō Hirakawa won in Super Formula and was a Super GT GT500 champion. That also isn't noting that Formula One veterans Paul di Resta and Jean-Éric Vergne are in the Peugeot program while Loïc Duval, a World Endurance Drivers' champion as well as a Super Formula and Super GT GT500 champion, also competes for the French manufacture.
IMSA's top prototype category also is star-studded and it will only get better with the debut of the LMDh regulations in 2023. Filipe Albuquerque is a past World Endurance Drivers' champion. He has won in sports car series all around the world. Tom Blomqvist was second in the 2014 European Formula Three championship, directly behind Esteban Ocon and directly ahead of Max Verstappen, who then moved to Formula One the next season, while Nicholas Latifi was tenth in that 2014 championship. Sébastien Bourdais ran in Formula One and won four Champ Car championships. Alex Lynn was the 2014 GP3 champion and won multiple GP2 races.
There are quality drivers everywhere and they deserved recognition
Tier 1 does get split into "Tier 1 Single-seater" and "Tier 1 Prototype" to account for the differences in grid size and multi-driver teams in sports car racing.
For Formula Two and IndyCar, the top five drivers all get 40 points, then 30 points for sixth, 25 for seventh, 20 for eighth, 15 for ninth and ten for tenth.
In the prototype series, the top three teams get 40 points before going 30-30-25-20-15-10-5 through the top ten.
The champions in these Tier 1 categories have their Super License points carry over for ten years to ensure a decade of Super License qualification for a past champions. In this season, Will Power would have been covered through 2024, and with a second championship it would be extended so Power would qualify for a Super License through the 2032 season, when he would be 51 years old.
However, there are more points to be earned. Race victories pay Super License points. If you win a race between 100-200 kilometers in length that pays two Super License points. If you win a race greater than 200 kilometers that pays five Super License points. We can also keep the one point awarded to a driver who completes a free practice on a Friday of a Formula One season.
More drivers would qualify for Super License points and these top series would have greater equality.
What do the other tiers look like?
Tier 2: (Formula Three, Super Formula, WEC LMP2, Formula E)
Before you scratch your head over WEC LMP2 being included, look at that grid.
António Félix da Costa, Will Stevens, Oliver Jarvis, Robert Kubica, René Rast, Robin Frijns, Norman Nato, Esteban Gutiérrez and the likes of Lynn, Albuquerque and Bourdais also compete at that level. It is a Pro-Am category, but the professionals are stout. The regulation that silver-rated drivers only earn 75% of the Super License points total and the bronze-rated drivers only earn 50% can remain, but that class is serious.
The points would be 30-25-20-15-12-10-8-6-4-2 with a championship at this level rolling over for five seasons.
We will breeze through the remaining series...
Tier 3: (Formula Regional European Championship, Indy Lights, Super GT GT500, European Le Mans Series LMP2, DTM, WEC GTE-Pro, IMSA GTD-Pro
Points: 25-20-15-10-8-6-4-3-2-1
Tier 4: (NASCAR Cup, Supercars, Indy Pro 2000, Formula Regional Americas, Asian and Japanese Championships, Super Formula Lights, IMSA LMP2, ELMS GTE, WEC GTE-Am, IMSA GTD-Am, W Series, Euroformula Open, Toyota Racing Series)
Points: 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
Tier 5: (Formula 4 championships, U.S. F2000, NASCAR Xfinity Series, SRO GT3 Series, World Touring Car Cup, Asian Le Mans Series LMP2, GB3 Championship)
Points: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
Tier 6: (FIA Karting World Championship Series)
These points remain unchanged from the current system.
FIA Karting World Championships Senior: 4-3-2-1
FIA Karting Continental Championships Senior and FIA Karting World Championship Junior: 3-2-1
FIA Karting Continental Championships Junior: 2-1
Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports and the best drivers in the world should be competing in that championship, but at the present moment the Super License system exclude more top drivers than it includes. The FIA can make a better and more open system to all competitors.
There is no clear pecking order for series. The 20 drivers in Formula One are not the top 20 drivers in the world. They wouldn't finish first through 20th if put head-to-head against the entire IndyCar grid. Romain Grosjean, as past GP2 champion and ten-time podium finisher in Formula One was 13th in the IndyCar championship this year. He led three laps. Christian Lundgaard was seventh in the 2020 Formula Two championship, earning him eight Super License points. Lundgaard was 14th in IndyCar this year, earning himself zero Super License points.
The drivers in IndyCar are showing they can compete with the top drivers from Europe. Europe should open up its doors to these drivers as well as drivers from other series around the globe.
Not all of these drivers will get an opportunity on a Formula One grid, even the ones that do will not necessarily succeed, but they at least deserve the opportunity. If they fail, they fail, but these drivers aren't even given the chance to do that.
Champion From the Weekend
You know about Will Power, but did you know...
Linus Lundqvist clinched the Indy Lights championship simply starting the first race of the weekend at Laguna Seca.
Felipe Drugovich clinched the Formula Two championship after Théo Pourchaire failed to score a point in the first race of the weekend from Monza.
Victor Martins clinched the Formula Three championship with finishes of tenth and fourth at Monza.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Álex Palou, but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix, his 11th victory of the season.
Jüri Vips and Jehan Daruvala split the Formula Two races from Monza. Franco Colapinto and Zane Maloney split the Formula Three races.
Bubba Wallace won the NASCAR Cup race from Kansas, his second career victory. Noah Gragson won the rain-shortened Grand National Series race, his fifth victory of the season. John Hunter Nemecheck won the Truck race, his second victory of the season.
The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa won the 6 Hours of Fuji. The #31 WRT Oreca-Gibson of Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael and Dries Vanthoor won in LMP2. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi won in GTE-Pro. The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin of Ben Keating, Marco Sørensen and Henrique Chaves won in GTE-AM.
Dennis Olsen and Nick Cassidy split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Spa-Francorchamps.
Will Davison (race one) and Shane van Gisbergen (race two and race three) Supercars races at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Álvaro Bautista (race one) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (SuperPole race and race two) split the World Superbike races at Magny-Cours. Lorenzo Baldassarri and Dominique Aegerter split the World Supersport races.
Thierry Neuville won the Acropolis Rally.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP will run at Aragón.
NASCAR has its night race at Bristol.
Super GT has a race at Sportsland SUGO.
The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup concludes its 2022 season in Valencia.
